The principal aims of the Center are to gather and prepare research personnel to investigate and to determine fundamental information on the development, the structure and the function of human oral tissues and associated structures as well as the microbial parasites which are present on or in the tissues in health and disease. The Center will place particular emphasis on research workers who are interested in collaborative efforts with scientists in the University Community. It is to be expected that new investigators, both established and those with promise, will be attracted by the work in progress. In this manner, it is hoped that the "work force" in oral health research will be increased and thus provide eventually, improvements in the maintenance of oral health and in the measures for prevention of oral disease. The work in progress is concerned with the metabolic activities of specific oral microbes involved in dental caries; differentiation of oral streptococci by analysis of the structural components of the cells, analysis of the protein antigens of herpes simplex virus; an epidemiologic study of oral manifestations of herpes simplex infections; studies of the ultrastructure of periodontal tissues; and studies on the immunologic responses of oral tissues.